Broadcom Corp

Broadcom Corp., which became a stock market superstar when the Irvine company went public last week, posted a profit of $7.7 million, or 19 cents a share, for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $763,000, or 3 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue surged to $35.3 million from $5 million. The company, which designs chips that speed Internet transmissions over ordinary phone and television lines, went public last week.

Scott McGregor, the chief executive of chip developer Broadcom Corp., is happy to talk about the expanding list of uses for his company's products - smart cars, for instance - and new innovations that will fuel his company's growth for years to come. Just don't ask which cellphone he carries in his pocket. Broadcom, based in Irvine, designs and sells chips that are used in Apple Inc.'s iPhone as well as in smartphones that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system, the iPhone's chief rival.

Broadcom Corp.'s stock advanced for the second day in a row Wednesday after the Irvine maker of high-tech communications equipment unveiled a chip that can deliver video, voice and data over conventional copper wire networks 10 times faster than current technology. The shares climbed $3.94 to $96.63. On Tuesday, the stock moved up 10%, or $8.69 a share.

The government made the first arrest in a broad investigation of alleged insider trading on Wall Street, charging an employee of a California research firm used by hedge funds. Don Ching Trang Chu was arrested at his home in Somerset, N.J., and charged in federal court in New York with two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. He was released on a $1-million bond. A complaint filed by prosecutors says Chu helped hedge funds get inside information on publicly traded companies by connecting the funds with employees of the firms.

Broadcom Corp., the largest maker of cable-modem computer chips, combined its six marketing and product development units into four to improve sales and marketing to customers. No jobs will be cut, Irvine-based Broadcom said. The four new units are enterprise computing, network infrastructure, mobile and wireless, and broadband communications, the company said. Shares of Broadcom rose 50 cents to $27 on Nasdaq.

Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. acquired privately held Sand Video Inc., a maker of video compress technology for semiconductors, for $77.5 million in cash and stock. Broadcom said it would issue 1.67 million shares, worth $70.1 million at Tuesday's closing price, and pay $7.4 million in cash to acquire Andover, Mass.-based Sand. Broadcom shares rose 14 cents to $42.19 on Nasdaq.

Broadcom Corp. may pursue a dismissed antitrust complaint against Qualcomm Inc., the world's second-largest maker of chips for wireless phones. Broadcom cited a Federal Trade Commission decision recently against Rambus Inc. that it said conflicted with the ruling by U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper, who dismissed the Qualcomm case. Irvine-based Broadcom, a maker of semiconductors used in communications, said it might appeal the judge's ruling or file an amended complaint.

Irvine-based chip maker Broadcom Corp. has been in talks with cellphone makers about new designs since winning a patent dispute with rival Qualcomm Inc., Chief Executive Scott McGregor said. The U.S. International Trade Commission on June 7 banned the import of some phones after finding that Qualcomm's newest chips infringe a Broadcom patent for a battery-saving feature. The ban could mean wireless carriers won't be able to offer the newest phones for Christmas.

Qualcomm Inc. asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate its right to enforce patents for technology to transmit DVD-quality video over satellites, wireless devices and the Internet. Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of chips that run mobile phones, lost a court case in which it accused Broadcom Corp. of infringing two patents related to an industry standard to compress high-definition video. U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster in San Diego said that Qualcomm lost the right to enforce those patents because it never told the standards-setting body about them.

Broadcom Corp.'s stock rose 14% Wednesday, a day after the Irvine maker of cable-modem chips said first-quarter profit more than doubled, beating analysts' estimates. The shares closed at $73.13, up $8.75 in Nasdaq trading. The company benefited from strong demand for its data-networking and digital-television set-top-box chips. The company's net income was 19 cents a share, beating the 14-cent average estimate of analysts polled by First Call. A year earlier, Broadcom earned 9 cents a share.

Broadcom Corp. said Tuesday it would pay $160.5 million to settle a securities fraud lawsuit over backdated stock options, an agreement that comes less than three weeks after a federal judge threw out related criminal cases and a government civil action. The resolution marks the third time Broadcom has agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle options-related litigation, but the company cast the development as the beginning of the end for the long-running controversy. "Today's settlement brings Broadcom closer to the day when we can put the stock-option cases behind us once and for all," said Scott McGregor, chief executive of the Irvine microchip company.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney's surprising rulings in the Broadcom stock options backdating cases didn't come as much of a shock to some lawyers who have argued cases before him. The judge, a former UCLA football star, isn't afraid to follow his instincts when deciding a case, attorneys say. "He has a strong sense of right and wrong," said Thomas H. Bienert Jr. of the San Clemente firm Bienert, Miller & Katzman. "Judge Carney has shown a willingness to take a strong position outside the norm when he believes it's the just thing to do."

Broadcom timeline Stock options, typically used as incentive pay, allow employees to buy stock in the future at current prices. Broadcom Corp. and other companies also backdated the options to a previously lower price to give employees a little extra when they cashed in the options. Backdating was legal as long as the expense was disclosed publicly. Here are events in Broadcom's backdating case: 2006 May 18: A report by the Center for Financial Research and Analysis, representing institutional investors and others, finds Broadcom "at risk" for having backdated option grants during the five-year period that ended in 2002.

Prosecutors on Friday portrayed a former Broadcom Corp. chief financial officer as a liar who conspired with co-founders Henry T. Nicholas III and Henry Samueli to hide billions of dollars in compensation from regulators and investors in the Irvine technology firm. Rather than reward Broadcom's microchip engineers with high salaries, the former financial executive, William J. Ruehle, schemed for years to improperly backdate stock options, giving them extra value that wasn't acknowledged, because "every dollar you pay is one less dollar on the bottom line," Assistant U.S. Atty.

Broadcom Corp. said Thursday that third-quarter profit fell 49% and predicted that fourth-quarter sales would be little changed from the previous period, sending the stock down in extended trading. "People were expecting stronger guidance," said Daniel Amir, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets in San Francisco. Third-quarter net income fell to $84.6 million, or 16 cents a share, from $164.9 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier, Irvine-based Broadcom said. Sales slipped 3.4% to $1.25 billion.

Broadcom Corp., an Irvine-based semiconductor maker, agreed to buy closely held LVL7 Systems Inc. for about $62 million in cash to add networking software designed for smaller businesses. Adding Morrisville, N.C.-based LVL7's software to its components will help boost sales to makers of switches and wireless networks, Broadcom said. In an effort to tap into the market for integrated networks that let mobile phones, personal computers and televisions communicate, Broadcom is widening its focus.

Broadcom Corp., the Irvine maker of chips for phones and consumer electronics, reduced its fourth-quarter sales forecast to $1.05 billion to $1.1 billion, down from a previous projection of $1.17 billion to $1.24 billion. The company, one of a number of chip makers to restate projections for the current quarter, said the recession is crimping demand for electronics, forcing customers to cancel or delay orders. Before the revision was announced, shares had gained 52 cents to close at $15.46.